


What Killed The Cat

by Beserk



Category: Interview With the Vampire (1994)
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:14:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21955726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beserk/pseuds/Beserk
Summary: Lestat grinned to himself as he slipped out of the car. Louis hadn't fed from the boy, he'd left him, afraid but unharmed. Lestat, who knew Louis so well, knew that the pureness was the reason that he hadn't killed or fed from him. He saw the pureness and beauty and wanted it to stay like that. Untouched by the inky black they tainted the world with.He would not allow Lestat to stain this boy without a fight. He would follow him after the boy ran out of the room, would follow Lestat as he took him. Claudia had kept Louis by his side for decades, but it had not lasted. He never should have turned that child; he should have allowed her to die. But this boy wasn't a child, he wouldn't be trapped in the body of one as he grew. Still, he was not grown, not truly, he was innocent and young enough to need protection. Louis did well when he had someone to protect.
Relationships: Daniel Molloy/Louis de Pointe du Lac, Lestat de Lioncourt/Daniel Molloy, Lestat de Lioncourt/Daniel Molloy/Louis de Pointe du Lac, Lestat de Lioncourt/Louis de Pointe du Lac
Comments: 12
Kudos: 84





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Apologizes to book lovers for any and all lore-butchering, I'm working from the movie and minimal amount of Googling here.

The boy was still looking at him as Lestat drove them back to Louis's burned down estate. He didn't seem particularly excited over the prospect of being turned, which Lestat would have expected. He'd listened to the boy and Louis talk (he'd been following Louis for weeks now), and had heard the boy request immortality. It seemed that Louis's near-attack of him had had a rather strong effect on this child.

He truly was a child, Lestat mused as he brought the car to a stop. There was an innocent and charming look in his eyes as he watched Lestat, a fear that came from someone who did not realize that death was not nearly the worst thing that could be inflicted on him. Louis had realized, Louis had known. Even as a human, Louis knew not to idolize living.

But not this one. This one had not suffered the way Louis had suffered before Lestat had found him. The boy was as pure as snow.

Lestat grinned to himself as he slipped out of the car. Louis hadn't fed from the boy, he'd left him, afraid but unharmed. Lestat, who knew Louis so well, knew that the pureness was the reason that he hadn't killed or fed from him. He saw the pureness and beauty and wanted it to stay like that. Untouched by the inky black they tainted the world with.

He would not allow Lestat to stain this boy without a fight. He would follow him after the boy ran out of the room, would follow Lestat as he took him. Claudia had kept Louis by his side for decades, but it had not lasted. He never should have turned that child; he should have allowed her to die. But this boy wasn't a child, he wouldn't be trapped in the body of one as he grew. Still, he was not grown, not truly, he was innocent and young enough to need protection. Louis did well when he had someone to protect.

"We've arrived," Lestat said cheerfully, opening the door to raise the boy into his arms. He leaned the raven head on his shoulder and scented his throat. He smelled wonderful; it was a shame he would only be able to drink from him once. "You still have quite a bit of blood in you, little boy. Don't worry, I'll only drain the rest when Lestat comes close."

The boy groaned, eyes fluttering nearly closed. His hands were shaking slightly, and he was breathing unevenly. He wasn't dying, yet, but he certainly would in a few hours if he did not receive any blood transfusion. Or, alternatively, there was still quite a bit of blood inside of him that could make for a wonderful meal.

"Are…you…goin'…to…. kill-"

"Hush, child," Lestat hummed, combing his fingers through the black hair, feeling the living pulse pounding under him. "You will not end up dead if you do not choose to. Well, if you and Louis choose."

He settled down on the chair where he'd sat when Louis had found him, drawing the boy into his lap, and smiled down at him, "You know about Claudia, yes?"

The boy blinked up at him, and then carefully nodded.

"Louis told you how she was turned, yes? How he drained her, and I gave her blood to bring her back?" Lestat cradled the boy's head, _his_ boy's head, he must start to think of him, and caressed his ear with one finger. "We'll do it the other way around this time. I drained you, Louis will give you his blood-"

He stopped talking, tilting his head slightly, and he grinned.

"Come on then, Louis," He called out, feeling the boy in his arms stiffen slightly. At least as much as he could while so weak. "We're waiting for you."

He could sense Louis's fear, nearly _smell_ it, as his former lover walked carefully into the room. His beautiful green eyes flickered down to the boy, and stayed there, widening slightly.

"Welcome, Louis," Lestat said, carding his fingers through the boy's hair as the child tried to move towards Louis, keeping him in place. "I thought I might have to wait for rather longer. You've followed the boy rather closely, haven't you?"

"Lestat…" Louis whispered, taking a few steps forward, still looking only at the boy. Lestat tightened his hold on the black-haired child, making the boy let out a small chocked out whimper and Louis freeze in place. He raised his hands in a peace-offering gesture. "Please, don't-"

"I have no intention of hurting the child," Lestat replied. "What happens to him now is in your hands."

"You drank from him," Louis started walking over again, carefully. "Give him to me, please, he needs blood, we must get him to a hospital."

Lestat snorted, opening his mouth to expose his fangs, "Or perhaps you'd rather I drain him fully? He had asked for it, hasn't he?"

"He is a _child_ ," Louis begged. "He does not know what he's asking for."

"He knows more then you ever did, doesn’t he?" Lestat mused, leaning his face down next to the boy's still-pulsing neck. "And he has made his choice. You should respect it, and give him what he wishes for."

"Please," Louis was pleading desperately now. "Please, I-I will return to you, we will be as we once were. Please, just let the boy go, let him go-"

"No," Lestat replied, wrapping his arm around the boy's waist to keep him in place as he tried to get away, as ineffective as that attempt was. "I don’t think I will do that. You see, Louis, I can't trust you to stay with me."

"You tried this, once," Louis tried a different tactic. "Claudia merely drove a wedge between us. This will not give you what you wish for."

"No, you are right," Lestat touched the white throat with his fangs. "It did not work. She never should have been one of us, a child and a _female_. But this one…this one will be our son, and he will keep you by my side forever."

And then he latched his fangs into the soft skin and began drinking.

"No!" Louis screamed, rushing forward and falling to his knees. But he hovered over the two of them, knowing that there was nothing he could do now. Trying to detach Lestat from the boy would only tear at his skin, bringing a quicker death. So he waited, placing his hand on the boy's head, pressing their foreheads together, whispering, "I'm sorry. Forgive me."

"You have no cause to seek forgiveness," Lestat said, licking his lips as he pulled away from the boy's neck. He could hear the boy's heart, slow and nearly gone now, under his hand. "He asked for the turn, hadn't he? Come now, we'll turn our son together. Give him your blood."

But Louis simply looked down at the boy, and whispered, "Do you wish to be turned?"

They looked at one another for a moment, Lestat watching them both intently, and then the boy, with the last of his strength, shook his head.

Lestat clenched his teeth in frustration.

"Then I will not," Louis whispered, caressing the boy's sweat-filled hair out of his forehead. He looked up at Lestat, defiance in his eyes. "I will not turn him."

"Then you allow him to die," Lestat said with finality, and pulled the boy so he was leaning against his chest, moving him away from Louis. But Louis followed so he was nearly sitting in Lestat's lap. "Watch him die, then."

The boy was taking his last breathes, Lestat and Louis could both tell- a few more moments and he would be dead, and the chance would be lost. The boy would be dead and Louis could add another burden to the many he forced himself to bare (oh Louis, so _dramatic_ ).

"There," Lestat whispered, leaning his chin on the boy's shoulder. "He will die. Will you bury him, cradle his body until it crumbles to dust and cry over it-?"

And then Louis screamed, a horrific sound of pain and desperation, and cut his wrist. Lestat watched, excitement and lust growing in him, as he placed the bleeding wrist to their boy's lips. But the boy, in his last act as a living man, pursed his lips together and refused to open them.

"Open," Louis whispered, begged, but the boy would not, and Louis was forced to turn to his creator. There was a look of pure desperation in his eyes, and Lestat knew that he could not bring himself to force the boy to inject the blood, but could not bring himself to watch him die, either. So in his desperation he turned, cowardly, to Lestat, begging him to do the deed he could not complete. It was quite pleasant to see that there were still things that Louis needed from Lestat.

"Here," Lestat said softly, and grabbed the boy's jaw, forcing his mouth open. The boy made a soft sound of protect, but he had no strength left in him to fight, and the blood drizzled down into him, one drop at a time. Then the boy's eyes flew open and he grabbed Louis's wrist, pulling it to his lips, and began drinking with vigor. Lestat laughed, watching the pain growing in Louis's eyes. It was painful, wasn't it?

He could tell that it would be hard for Louis to force the boy to release his wrist. So he grabbed the back of the boy's neck and shook him hard, forcing him to do so. The boy growled in protest, grabbing the air with his hands in an attempt to get the bleeding appendix back. Lestat smiled and caressed the boy, whispering soft endearments to him, telling him it was all well, that he was safe and would be reborn soon. The boy thrust in his arms, the pain in his eyes growing.

"Give him to me," Louis pleaded, raising his hands for the child as he groaned, convulsing in Lestat's arms while his body changed. "Please."

"Very well," Lestat said generously, but found that he was reluctant to part with the boy in his arms. The boy was warm, and fit into Lestat's hold so perfectly. It was as if he'd been made specially for Lestat. Why should he let go of him, then? The boy should be in his arms forever.

But Louis's pleading eyes caused him to sigh and hand the body over. It wouldn't hurt to sometimes give Louis what he wanted; it would help keeping him by his side. Not that he would need to work hard on that, now that they had the boy.

Louis grabbed the body from Lestat, slipping into the floor and holding it in his arms tightly, his eyes glistening with tears, while the boy changed. He was beautiful as he spoke to the child, his eyes wide with anguish, hair tumbling down his shoulder, voice pleading, "It's all right, it will be over soon, it's all right-"

The boy gasped, and Lestat sat up, watching as their boy's eyes opened. They had been dark brown before the transformation, but now they were a brilliant, beautiful amber. Being a vampire suited him.

The boy's eyes widened as he looked around, and Lestat smirked. He always enjoyed seeing the first moments of the unlife of a vampire. The wonder as they took in the world anew, the realization that they had never before seen anything quite the way it truly was.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Lestat murmured, watching the child stumble to his feet, wondering to the window to look out of it. "You were right to want this life, were you not?"

The boy shivered slightly, and glared angrily at Lestat. Lestat remembered that look, it had been sent his way quite often while they lived with Claudia, and it meant that he had said something to their child that Louis vehemently disapproved of.

"I told you," The boy said, his voice full of the same wonder as his eyes, his voice drawing Louis's gaze away. "I told you _no_."

Louis stiffened, turning back to Lestat with wide eyes, as if hoping for his help. But Lestat merely smirked and raised his hands. It had been Louis's decision to turn the boy, he would deal with the consequences.

"I'm sorry," Louis replied, and Lestat rolled his eyes. Well, that was _one_ way of dealing with the situation. "I should have allowed you to die-"

"Why are you telling him that?" Lestat smirked, standing up. "What a ridiculous thing to tell him, that he should have died. Look at the world now, look at how beautiful it is! Is death truly better than this beauty?"

"I…" The boy blinked, turning away from the window and towards Lestat. He was confused, Lestat could see, the beauty was washing over him, all the ugliness of the world hadn't yet hit him. "I-"

"What's your name?" Lestat asked. "Or should we choose a name for you?"

"Like you did for Claudia?" The boy sneered. "I'm not a fucking _toy_."

"Of course not," Lestat waved his hand in dismissal. "You are our son, and don’t parents name their sons-?"

"My name is Daniel," The boy's voice sounded pained. "It's Daniel."

"Daniel," Louis whispered, voice full of soft wonder. He wanted this child for his own, he needed him. He had followed Daniel, given him an interview, told his story. He hadn't done it to spread the truth about their kind, he'd done it for this, for a new companion, for a child to watch over. Daniel had been right about that.

Smart boy.

"The sun will be coming up, soon," Lestat interrupted Louis's hypnotic wonder. He walked over to Daniel (Daniel, the name suited him. It did not sit well with Lestat, that he and Louis would not name him, but if he had to have a name not given by them-Daniel was one Lestat could live with) and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder, pulling him away from the window. "Come, Louis, we must put him to bed."

"Are there…are there coffins left here?" Louis asked, seemingly finding it hard to believe that coffins had survived the years.

"Only two," Lestat replied. "He'll have to sleep with me-"

"No," Both Daniel and Louis snapped, Louis sounding enraged and Daniel sounding rather horrified.

"He'll share a coffin with me," Louis added, grabbing the boy's arm and pulling him away from Lestat. Lestat sneered, feeling the loss as Daniel was taken from his grasp.

"Don't think you can take him away," Lestat told Louis softly, warningly. "I will come after you. Wherever you go, I will follow you, I will find you. Daniel is not yours to keep alone."

 _He belongs to the two of us_ , Lestat added in his mind as Louis tightened his hold on Daniel and pulled him away. As he was taken away, the boy watched Lestat. It was a bit like how a deer watches a lion approaching, only Lestat rather doubted any lion before him had thought that the deer may be smart enough to actually escape him.

Daniel wouldn't be able to, but Lestat was sure the chase would be rather thrilling.


	2. Chapter 2

Louis lay in the coffin, the boy on top of him. There was no room in the coffin for any other arraignment of their bodies, but it was clear to Louis that Daniel was uncomfortable and wanted nothing more than to punch the coffin lid open and escape. Louis, fearing the boy would attempt to run into the sun, slipped his arms around Daniel's body and held him tightly. He was stronger now than he was as a human, but much weaker than Louis, and of course weaker then Lestat as well.

And there was no doubt in Louis's mind that Lestat was awake in his own coffin, waiting to see what Daniel would do. What Louis would do, as well. He must be hoping for Daniel to try and escape, so Lestat could stop him, teach him the strength of his new father.

"I'm sorry," Louis whispered again, burrowing his nose into Daniel's raven hair. He wanted to hold the boy for eternity, keep him safe. But it was too late for that, was it not? He'd condemned the boy to the existence that had destroyed him for hundreds of years. Not only by feeding him his blood, but by talking to him in the first place, handing the boy to Lestat on a silver platter.

"Oh, give it a rest, won't you?" Daniel snorted, shifting a bit in Louis's grasp. "It's done, it's over. And Lestat's right, the world's really beautiful now."

Louis sighed, head hitting the coffin. He could feel Daniel trying to escape from his grasp, and snapped, "The world won't be beautiful for much longer."

"I know," Daniel said, and suddenly he sounded wiser, smarter than he had before. Still so innocent, though. Such an innocent child, Louis almost hated him for a moment. He wanted to be this innocent. He had been once, hadn't he? He could barely remember now. "But it is now."

Louis smiled, sadly, and knew that he couldn't hate his boy. He probably never could. The boy wanted to learn so much, to see so much. He was curious, and it was such a deep part of him, Louis doubted it would ever be stripped away from him. As he grew older, it would be harder and harder for Daniel to find things he did not know, things he could find out about the world. He would get frustrated, get furious at Louis and Lestat for rendering the world boring for him. But he would never stop looking, never stop searching for new things to learn.

"Tomorrow night, I'll show you how beautiful the world is now," Louis promised, carding his fingers through Daniel's hair. Daniel turned around, so they could look each other in the eye, and Louis swallowed. He was beautiful, so beautiful. Like an angel come to save Louis. For a moment Louis almost allowed himself to believe it, that Daniel was his savior, that Lestat had been right. Daniel would save them, both of them. Daniel, this beautiful and sweet creature, would save the two of them, make them whole again. "I promise."

"Ok," Daniel whispered. "And when it stops being beautiful?"

Louis placed his hand on the back of Daniel's neck and pulled him close, gently kissing his forehead.

"I'll be there when the world stops being beautiful, as well," He promised. He would stay with Daniel until one of them died.

"We should leave," Daniel said, and it seemed to Louis that his promise had emboldened Daniel. "As soon as the sun comes down, we need to leave."

But Louis shook his head, "Lestat would simply follow us."

"Why are you so scared of him?" Daniel demanded. "You said- _you_ said that he can't handle the modern world. That he got scared by fucking _police sirens_. He won't be able to follow us; we can get away-"

"I was wrong," Louis snapped, frightened. He could not allow Daniel to incur Lestat's wrath, it was not safe. Claudia had, and Lestat had attempted to kill her. He would not allow that fury to attach itself to his child. Not that, not again. "You saw, he followed you. Every time I underestimate Lestat, he proves to me how foolish that is. I will not allow you to anger him, Daniel. I must protect you-"

"You don't have to," Daniel snapped. "You know I'm not _actually_ a kid, right? No matter what Lestat says."

Louis smiled, "How old are you?"

The glare Daniel sent at him was rather petulant, and did very little to convince Louis of his maturity, "I'm _twenty-five_."

"A child, then," Louis declared, rubbing the back of Daniel's neck fondly. He could see (it was impossible not to see) the sparkling of lust in Daniel's eyes. He'd been able to see it during the long interview, but it was even clearer now. Louis hesitated for a moment, and then carefully raised his head and kissed Daniel softly.

The boy froze, and then Louis could feel his smile against Louis's lips, and he was kissing back, much rougher and harsher than Louis would have expected. But it was good, it was wonderful. He could feel his member twitch slightly as Daniel's hand cupped his cheek, deepening their kiss.

But then the boy pulled away, smirking down at him, and Louis thought, dizzyingly, _I have never seen anything more beautiful in my many years_. He wanted this boy, wanted him all to himself. The thought that he would have to share Daniel with Lestat made Louis want to burn down his estate. Again.

"If I'm a child, do you know what that makes you?" Daniel asked with clear satisfaction.

Realizing what Daniel was implying, Louis's eyes widened and he found himself laughing, unable to stop himself, " _God_ , Daniel."

"What's sex like, for vampires?" Daniel asked, and he looked down at Louis with the same burning curiosity and need to _know_ that had been so infectious while Louis had told his story.

"It's…. rather like it is for humans," Louis replied, caressing Daniel's hair fondly. "What did you think?"

Daniel shrugged, "Well, in-"

"If you say in _Dracula_ …." Louis warned, but Daniel just smirked, and Louis rolled his eyes, finding himself unable to prevent a smile from entering his face.

But Daniel was growing serious again, and placed his open palm on the coffin lid, saying seriously and quietly, "You and Lestat…Why didn't you tell me about that?"

Louis closed his eyes, "It was one thing, Daniel. I told you everything else. I didn't hide a single other thing. Could I not keep one thing to myself?"

"It wasn't an accusation, it was just a question," Daniel replied, and then frowned, tilting his head slightly. "I want to know about him."

Louis felt a sense of apprehension grow in him, "Daniel-"

"I want to know who his maker was, and where he comes from," Daniel's eyes were sparkling now with excitement and wonder. "God, can you imagine the stories he could tell-"

"Daniel, no," Louis wanted to sit up, to grab the boy and shake him, but that would open the casket and expose Daniel to the dangerous daylight. And that he could not do. Daniel must be protected, this was now his one purpose. "He won't tell you anything, you can't ask him."

He could not allow Daniel to hand Lestat such a strong weapon against him. He would use it to rope Daniel in, keep him close, feed him small pieces of information that would only cause the fire of his curiosity to grow into a raging flame. Even if, somehow, Louis managed to get Daniel away from Lestat, Daniel would not want to go. He would want return to Lestat's side, to hear more.

The curiosity wouldn't allow him to do anything else.

"Daniel, he won't tell you a thing," Louis begged, tightening his hold on Daniel's body. "You can't manipulate him into speaking, you can't force him to do a thing he does not want to do."

"I know," Daniel replied. "I just need him to want to tell me. Then he'll tell me everything I want to know."

Louis had to hold himself back from slapping the idiotic child, and instead placed Daniel's head on his chest, kissing his hair gently.

*

Daniel fell asleep, in the end, curled into Louis, face buried into Louis's neck. Louis lay in the coffin, holding the boy, thinking about how Claudia had lay beside him in their coffin, when she was still young. But Daniel was not a child, his was the body of an adult, and that body was eliciting rather dramatic reactions out of Louis. His cock was hard, his body was buzzing with excitement. He had not felt this way since…Lestat.

Since Lestat.

As if beckoned by Louis's thoughts, the casket lid slipped open and Lestat's face appeared, framed by his blond locks. Automatically, Louis wrapped his arms much more tightly around Daniel, wanting to keep him safe from the beautiful monster hovering over them both.

"The night has fallen, Louis," Lestat whispered, and reached out to caress Louis's hair out of his eye, rather like Louis had done for Daniel. The touch sent a shiver down Louis's spine, and it frightened him that it was not an unpleasant one. "Come on out with our son."

"He's still asleep," Louis protested. He didn't want Daniel awake yet, did not want him to be forced into his new existence quite yet.

"Yes, I can see that," Lestat moved his hand from Louis to the boy, and touched his forehead gently. "Carefully, then, don't wake him."

Louis sighed deeply, but obeyed, gently raising to a seated position, cradling Daniel in his arms. Daniel groaned in his sleep, but Louis hummed to him gently, kissing his forehead, and Daniel tumbled back into a deep sleep.

Lestat slipped into the coffin, sitting in front of Louis, with the boy curled up between them. The two vampires looked at one another, each eyeing the other as if trying to see what their time apart had changed in them. Louis did not know what Lestat could read in him, but what he read in Lestat was growing madness, and a cold satisfaction.

And as Lestat looked at Daniel, Louis realized with a sickening horror that it was Daniel who was bringing that satisfaction to his creator and former lover.

 _He'd heard,_ Louis thought. He heard Daniel talking, he heard his curiosity. He knew that Daniel wanted information from him, he knew he'd been given a leash to put around the boy's neck. Louis sighed deeply, knowing there was nothing he could do now. The damage was done.

"You don't-" Louis caught himself, taking a deep breath. "You don’t need him. What can he give you? You can let him go, right now. I will be…forever grateful for you if you did."

"Let him go?" Lestat laughed softly, cruelly, and leaned forward, so Daniel was trapped between their bodies. Louis felt Daniel stir and wake, and try to move away. But Lestat grabbed Daniel, pulling him away from Louis. Lestat trapped Daniel in place with his arms as the boy began to struggle, eyes wide and legs kicking, hitting Louis in the stomach. "Now why would I do that? We're a family now! You're not going to leave your family, are you, Louis?"

"Let him go!" Louis sneered, jumping up and taking hold of Daniel, attempting to extract him from Lestat's hold. "Daniel-"

"Daniel, darling," Lestat licked Daniel's ear. "Calm down, or I'll have to punish you."

"What the _hell_ is wrong with you?" Daniel yelped, and elbowed Lestat in the gut. Lestat let out an angry growl, and released Daniel.

Immediately, Louis grabbed Daniel and jumped out of the coffin, pulling the boy behind him, "You won't touch him."

"And how, Louis," Lestat sneered, elegantly slithering out of the coffin. "Do _you_ intend on disciplining our son for misbehavior?"

"He's not a child," Louis said, even if it was hard to view Daniel as an adult. He looked backwards at Daniel, seeing the excitement and that fucking _curiosity_ in the boy's eyes. He didn’t seem to realize the danger here was in. He just wanted to know what Lestat was thinking, and he didn't seem to care about anything else. "And he's not yours to control."

"Is he yours, then?" Lestat asked, nearly innocently. "Yours to touch, clearly. Yours to love. Is that what you did with Claudia, all the nights she slipped into your coffin?"

"I didn’t touch Claudia," Louis replied, the mere thought horrific. Claudia did not hate being in the body of a child without cause. She had wanted something that Louis could never give. Her spirit he could love, her body he could not.

"Jesus, you say that like it's a bad thing," Daniel mumbled behind him. Both Lestat and Louis ignored him.

He truly was becoming their son, Louis thought rather bitterly. They were fighting over him like separated parents. Or perhaps not separated. He certainly didn't seem to be leaving Lestat. He didn't even seem to want to leave Lestat at the moment. Mostly, he was forced to admit to himself, what he truly wanted was to curl into a bed with Daniel, knowing that Lestat was watching over them both, keeping them safe.

 _Nothing changes_ , Louis thought bitterly _. I can't escape him, no matter what I do_.

"We need to take him haunting, he hasn't fed yet," Lestat said, looking at Louis intently.

Louis felt Daniel stiffen behind him, but kept his eyes on Lestat, "I'll take him-"

"So you can teach him how to drink from rats?" Lestat scoffed. "No, I won't allow that, Louis. Daniel is coming with me. Do you want to come with us, and watch him kill, or do you want to stay here? You don't have to watch it."

Lestat grinned, and Louis thought that he never hated Lestat as much as he did at that moment. He turned away from his creator towards his creation and said softly, "I'll come with you. I'll always be with you, I promised."


	3. Chapter 3

"Do you see that girl, down there?" Lestat asked, leaning his chin on his son's shoulder and pointing at a young woman walking past the statue they were hiding behind. The girl could not have been older than Daniel himself, perhaps a bit younger, and had long brown hair and dark brown eyes. She was rather beautiful, and reminded Lestat of Daniel, somewhat. They at least looked rather similar.

"Yes," Daniel mumbled, and Lestat could see his eyes glossing over with ravishing hunger.

"I want you to go to her," Lestat whispered in his ear. "And sink your teeth into her throat, yes, my dear? I want you to drink from her until she's dead and you're satisfied-"

"She doesn't have to die," Louis interrupted, and Lestat rolled his eyes, glaring angrily at Louis. He was having a rather nice moment with their son, did Louis have to interrupt them? "You can leave her alive. I'll help you."

"Don't be ridiculous," Lestat snorted, noticing that Daniel had turned to look at Louis. He took hold of his chin gently and guided him back to the girl, who was about to disappear beyond the corner. "Go on then, Daniel. Go get her."

Daniel went. Rushed, more like. Jumped away from Lestat and Louis and ran to the girl. Lestat laughed, pleasure rocking his body. He'd been worried that Daniel may be a second Louis, that he'd have to coax this one into the consumption of human blood as well. But no, this one was more of the Claudia sort, it seemed. He wanted blood, and he wasn't going to fight himself over that want.

Lestat watched with growing enjoyment as Daniel grabbed the girl, and without a moment's hesitation sank his fangs into her breast. She let out a horrified scream, but Daniel (such a smart boy), clasped a hand over her mouth, muffling her voice before she could make another sound. Lestat looked up towards the buildings around them, to see if anyone would appear.

Now one did.

He turned to look back at Louis, ready to gloat at the success of their son, but Louis's face was a mask of horror, and Lestat just managed to catch him as he shot forward.

"What are you doing?" Lestat hissed, throwing Louis against the statue, hard enough to crack it. Louis growled in respond, taking hold of Lestat and throwing him on the ground.

"I'm stopping him," Louis replied, voice so hateful it sent a shiver down Lestat's spine. Oh, how he had missed him. Missed him with a desperation he only allowed himself to feel now that had him again. "He doesn’t need to end her life."

"He already has," Lestat responded, smiling with pleasure and grabbing Louis closer to him, so their cocks were grinded together. The familiar sensation caused Lestat to groan, the sensation so strong that for a brief moment he forgot the child feeding only meters away from them. But Louis would not give him even that small moment of pleasure, and with a roar of horror, he threw Lestat off him and ran to the boy.

"Stop, Daniel, enough!" Louis yelled, taking hold of Daniel and trying to force him away from the body. "Enough!"

"She's dead, Louis," Lestat sing-songed, standing up to see Daniel, face red with blood, his face a mask of fury, hunching down over the mutilated body like the predator he was. "Let the boy finish his meal."

"Be quiet!" Louis exposed his own fangs and sank them into Daniel's shoulder. The boy let out a small scream, releasing the flesh in his mouth, and Louis quietly placed his arm in between Daniel and the girl, to prevent him from returning to his meal, and trapped him in place with his body.

"Let me go," Daniel growled, voice low and dazed from the blood. "Let me go!"

"No, you've had enough. Her chest is demolished, do not degrade her body more-"

"Your father is as soft now as he ever was, Daniel," Lestat called out to the boy. "The woman is nearly dead, there is still blood in her. Would you let it go to waste?"

"No," Daniel mumbled. "We wouldn't want that."

Lestat smirked, triumphant.

"Well, Louis, you'd best let the boy go finish his meal."

Closing his eyes, Louis did as he was bid, and the boy shot forward as soon as he was released to return to the body. Lestat raised his palms to Louis, _see?_ And walked over to Daniel. Leaning by the boy's side, he placed his hand on Daniel's back and caressed him gently as the boy drank.

"There," Lestat whispered. "It's good, isn't it? Better than any nourishment you could consume as a human?"

Daniel didn't bother responding, simply continuing to feed. Lestat settled by his side, continuing his caresses as Louis stumbled over, and Lestat grabbed him and pulled him down to sit beside him and Daniel. Louis, he could tell, was unsure of what to do. He wanted to separate the boy from his meal, separate the innocent and unknowing child from the world they had thrust him into and the creature he now was. But he wanted Daniel to be satisfied, to be as happy as he could get. And that meant allowing him to drink his full.

"Let him finish," Lestat demanded, perhaps requested, from his lover. He was not at all interested in the rather dramatic fight he knew would come about if Louis and he began to argue over Daniel. And this was the boy's first meal, Lestat didn't want it ruined for him.

Louis swallowed deeply, "I don’t want-"

"You don't want him to be what he now is," Lestat hissed as Daniel kept on drinking. Kept on-wait. Lestat frowned and looked down at the body. It was dead. Daniel was drinking from a dead body.

Louis seemed to have realized that at the exact same time Lestat did, and let out a loud curse. He grabbed Daniel and shoved him away from the body, causing his fangs to rip the girl's breasts further, spraying Daniel with some more blood. His face was nearly entirely covered in red blood, and he was growling lowly.

"She's dead, that's enough," Louis said softly, grabbing Daniel's arms and shoving them behind the boy's back, trapping him in place.

"What?" Daniel sounded entirely dazed, shoving Louis slightly. A rather lackluster attempt at escape, in Lestat's opinion. "What?"

"No drinking from dead people," Lestat told the boy sternly, tapping Daniel's nose fondly. But then he thought about had just happened and frowned. "Didn't it taste odd?"

Daniel shrugged, "Yeah. So?"

"So stop," Louis said sternly, and Lestat remembered that tone from Claudia. He wondered if Daniel recognized it as well, from his first childhood and first parents. "Stop d-"

"But I'm still thirsty," Daniel mumbled, and suddenly collapsed against Louis, looking horrifically tired.

"It's your first time, of course you're still hungry," Lestat replied, standing up. "Louis drained three slave girls before he was satisfied, the first time he drank. Remember, Louis?"

He was rewarded with a glare for his efforts to cheer the child up.

"I don’t want to kill someone else," Daniel replied. He was getting weak now, Lestat could see. From drinking a bit of blood from a dead human. He would be woozy and unclear for the rest of the night. Lestat wondered for a moment if he should force-feed Louis some of the blood, as well, make him see how it felt, the slushing of poison in your veins. Make him feel what Claudia had inflected on Lestat all those decades ago. "I won't."

"Oh, wonderful," Lestat rolled his eyes dramatically. "Another Louis! Look here, my love, our son takes after you. Aren't you pleased?"

"Shut up, Lestat," Louis sounded oddly exhausted, cradling the boy in his arms. He looked down at the boy and said gently, "You don't have to, tonight."

Lestat rolled his eyes.

*

The boy ended up feeding from another human, of course. Louis took the boy back to his burned estate (Lestat needed to find a new home for them, and soon) and curled with him on the floor, whispering comforting words. Lestat, deciding that cuddling would do very little to assist the boy at that time, went out and returned with a dazed, drugged up homeless man. The man appeared to be dying, his ribs clear under his skin, his mind is muddled by his drugs and alcohol.

"He's going to die anyway," Lestat said brusquely, and then pulled the man's wrist towards Daniel and bit it, lightly, making the crimson blood trickle down in front of the boy's mouth. "Go on, then."

It took less then a moment, and then Daniel's eyes widened and he groaned, rushing forwards to grab the wrist and latch his lips to it.

"There," Lestat cooed softly, carding his fingers through Daniel's hair. "It's good, is it not?"

Daniel closed his eyes and nodded, shivering softly as he drank.

"No reason not to enjoy the existence you now have," Lestat told him, looking up at Louis. "There are so few other ways to find enjoyment."

Louis looked away.

*

"Why did you turn Louis?"

Lestat frowned and looked up from his chair to see Daniel hovering over him. He was still rather uncertain on his feet, the blood of a dead man making him weak.

"Why aren't you with Louis?" Lestat chided. "He's rather worried about you, I think."

Ignoring him, Daniel continued, "He wanted to die. And you made sure he never would-well, at least not _normally_. He couldn't just wait for death, I mean. Did you just want him to suffer? Or did you think he'd end up enjoying the life you were giving him?"

Lestat sighed and grabbed Daniel by the wrist, pulling him into his lap. Daniel stiffened slightly. He didn't feel comfortable with Lestat's touch, not like Louis's. _That_ touch Daniel seemed to crave. Well, that would have to change.

"He was beautiful," Lestat said, looking at Daniel's hand trapped in between both of his own. "He still is."

" _That's_ why you turned him?" Daniel sounded rather disappointed by that, as if he had been hoping for a deeper meaning. "Because you liked how he _looked_?"

Lestat tilted his head at the boy, placing one of his hands on Daniel's back, running it up and down his spine, "I also thought he would make an interesting companion."

"Was he your first?" Daniel suddenly asked. "Companion, I mean?"

Lestat snorted, "Do you truly believe I will tell you everything I have refused to tell Louis for hundreds of years?"

He shoved Daniel's jacket to the side, exposing the recording device laying there. Lestat clicked his tongue as Daniel squirmed, trying to get away from Lestat's hold (he clasped his hand on the back of Daniel's neck, keeping him soundly in place), and crushed the device in between his fingers, allowing the pieces to collapse to the ground.

Daniel sighed deeply, sounding oddly tired, as though he were exhausted by Lestat's nonsense, "So, he was the first one?"

Lestat groaned, amused, and pulled Daniel deeper into his lap, "You're going to be difficult, aren't you?"

Somberly, Daniel pointed to his destroyed device, " _I'm_ going to be difficult? You just ruined my- you know what, never mind. Do you regret turning Louis?"

Lestat had to stop himself from hitting his head against the chair behind him, "And why would I do that?"

"Because he left you, because of Claudia-"

"It was my choice to turn Claudia, not Louis's," Lestat replied. He could touch Daniel when he was speaking to him, he realized. Daniel allowed a lot more when he thought he was getting his way. He allowed himself to be moved and touched when he thought it would allow him to learn.

Daniel needed to learn the way humans needed food, the way vampire needed blood. He could not survive without it, and would not attempt to try.

"Yeah, but you only turned her because of him," Daniel insisted. "And you really hate her, don't you?"

"Claudia brought my hatred on herself, it was her choice," Lestat replied. "I adored her, cherished her, gave her everything she could have wanted."

"And then she betrayed you," Daniel watched him carefully, wisely. "Louis betrayed you, didn't he?"

Lestat stiffened slightly, "Louis didn't try to kill me-"

"He set you on fir-"

"Daniel, enough." Lestat and Daniel turned together to see Louis walk into the room. He watched the two vampires on the seat with worried eyes and came over to stand above them.

"He's allowed to ask, I'm not going to get mad at him," Lestat snorted, wrapping an arm around Daniel's waist to keep him in place once he noticed Daniel seemed to want to escape him.

"Of course not," Louis sneered. "Until he says something that is not to your liking."

Lestat sighed, but allowed Louis to take Daniel off his lap, "He doesn't _say_ much, mostly he just asks."

"Asks questions you never intend to answer," Louis replied bitterly. "But you won't ever tell him that, will you. You'll simply keep pretending to answer until he grows to hate you. I know how this works, I've seen it done before."

And then he dragged Daniel out of the room, the boy watching Lestat, curiously, from the corner of his eye. And that curiosity told Lestat that no matter what Louis wanted, Daniel would be back, to ask more questions and seek more answers.

He smirked and leaned back on the chair.


	4. Chapter 4

"Where is he!?"

Louis yelped as his coffin lid was thrown open and Lestat appeared. His hair was wild around his face and his eyes were _mad_ with fury. 

"Where is our son?!" The older vampire bellowed. 

"What-" Louis startled as Lestat curled his fingers around the collar of his shirt and pulled him up and out of the coffin.

"Where. Is. _Daniel_?" Lestat yelled, shaking him hard. "Did you let him go-"

"What are you talking about?" Louis shoved Lestat off him and looked to his right at the reddish-brown coffin they'd gotten for Daniel the night before, realizing with disgust that it was empty. Daniel was gone, he'd left. Louis turned back to Lestat; eyes wide. "Oh, no…"

Lestat growled, "So. You didn't let him go. Good. I wouldn't have taken it kindly if-"

"Shut up!" Louis cried. There was no time for dick-measuring. Daniel was missing, he was gone. He could have run away, Louis could have lost him. He knew he was being selfish, but he was unable to stop fearing being alone once again with Lestat. Daniel's missing presence hovered over him, pulling him down. "How long has he been gone?"

"Where would he go?" Clearly Lestat was not paying attention to Louis.

"How am I supposed to know?" Louis cried out in reply.

"He hasn't told you anything about his life before, whenever you rut against him at night?" Louis was a bit shocked to hear the bitterness in Lestat's voice, but he didn't have time to worry over the other vampire's seeming jealously.

"No, he didn't," Louis said quietly. "He doesn't tell me things, he-"

"Asks questions," Lestat rolled his eyes, shoving Louis out of the coffin. "I know. It's annoying."

"If he annoys you so much," Louis snapped, angry. "Just leave the boy alone. Stop pretending you're going to give him what he wants-"

"He annoys me, I didn't say he _angers_ me," Lestat replied. " _That_ he doesn’t do. I'm not going to leave him, and I'm not going to let you take him."

"I didn't!" Louis cried out. "I don't know where he is, but if he wanted to leave, I would take him from you."

"You know you wouldn't be able to do that," Lestat sneered. "I would follow you, everywhere you go-"

"And if _I_ leave?" Louis asked. It wasn't something he thought he was capable of doing, but he wanted to know. "If I take up and leave, who would you rush after? Me, or him?"

"Him, Louis, I'm no fool," Lestat replied immediately. "If you leave and I take him, how long would it take before you rush after us, to make sure the boy is safe and sound? Don't try and play games with me, Louis. I know you far too well for that to work."

Louis shook his head, bluff called, and stepped out of the coffin. Looking down at it, he wondered to himself if this was better. It would be safer, perhaps, for the child to be away from the toxic dynamic between him and Lestat. Had that not been one of the reasons Claudia grew so bitter? It couldn't have only been about the trap her body had become eventually. It had to be because of her fathers as well.

"Perhaps you'd like to let him go, though?" Lestat asked with faux kindness. "You want him away from me, no? You may leave now, no child to hold you back."

Louis turned away, unwilling to look at his maker.

"He might be safer, without me. He knows how to hunt, and he understands the world he lives in. He'd be just fine."

He would, wouldn't he?

"Shall we leave him to his own devices?" Lestat drawled.

"Y-" The word got caught in Louis's throat, unable to get out.

Groaning in horror, Louis hid his face in his hands, shaking his head sharply. He was a monster, truly. But he couldn't give up on his bright, kind, wonderful boy.

"That's what I thought," Lestat clicked his tongue, placing his open palm on Louis's cheek. "Perhaps you're not the perfect moral compass you wish yourself to be, hmm?"

Louis closed his eyes, knowing there was nothing he could say to refute Lestat's words.

"Well, stop moping," Lestat slapped Louis's cheek playfully. "Time to find our son."

Louis choked back a sob and stumbled after Lestat.

*

It wasn't so hard to find Daniel, as it turned out. There was a dead, bled out girl a few alleys away from the estate, and the two vampires followed the trail of blood for a few more streets. And there he was.

Daniel was walking with his hands in his pockets, back slumped and legs dragging. He looked slightly depressed, and tired. Certainly not as though he were in the middle of an _escape_.

He looked a bit like he was on a walk.

Lestat did not seem to realize this, or perhaps he didn't care, because as soon as Daniel came into view he bellowed Daniel's name, voice full of horrifying fury, and stomped towards the boy.

Daniel stopped moving and turned, eyes wide with clear fear, which Louis thought was a rather appropriate reaction. Not that he had any intention of allowing Lestat to give him cause for fear. Louis rushed forward and grasped Lestat by the shoulder.

"I will not allow you to hurt him," Louis warned.

"And who," Lestat sneered, "Said _anything_ about hurting the boy?"

Louis decided that question was not worth a response, and instead calmly asked Daniel, "Where were you going?"

"Why?" Daniel asked with a rather petulant frown. "Do I need to tell you where I'm fucking going?"

"Yes," Lestat hissed, shoving Louis off him roughly. "Where were you _going_?"

"None of your fucking business," Daniel replied immediately, but Louis couldn't tell if he was just angry at Lestat or had been planning something that he did not want the two of them to know of.

"Oh, it very much is," Lestat told him sternly. "Louis was quite worried about you."

Louis would have found that comment amusing if the situation was not so dire.

"It doesn’t matter," Louis said quietly. "We found Daniel, let's take him home."

"No," Lestat shook his head, exposing his fangs to Daniel. The boy took a step backwards, body tense and ready to sprint at a moment's notice. "I want to know where he was going. _Who_ he was going to."

"You don't know-"

"He wasn't out hunting, Louis! He wasn't running anywhere," Lestat snapped his head back to Louis, and while Daniel's eyes were full of fear, Lestat's were full of anger. "He was going somewhere, and I _will_ find out where."

"I'm not telling you shit, you dick."

Louis wasn't entirely sure if groaning out loud would be the right thing to do. He decided it would be safer not to.

"Don't," Louis whispered, looking at Lestat. "Don't hurt him."

They stared each other in the eye, and then Lestat slashed Louis's chest.

Louis gasped, stumbling backwards for a moment as he healed. His hand went up to the wound, rather shocked, and then shook his head and rushed forward.

But that moment was too long. By the time he made it to Daniel, Lestat had him pinned to the wall, and his hand was-Louis wanted to scream-buried deep into Daniel's gut.

"Lestat!" Louis screamed, horrified. "Stop, stop!"

He tackled the blond vampire, tumbling with him to the ground. Fury clouding his mind, Louis saddled Lestat's lap. For a moment he stopped, looking down at his maker, and then Lestat smiled up at him cruelly, and Louis screamed, attacking.

*

When it was done, he wasn't sure how long he'd beat Lestat. It was still night, of course, though Louis could tell that it would soon be light. A few hours, then.

Horrified, Louis looked down at the broken, battered body underneath him. His clothes were entirely torn, and covered in mud, and if his blood had not disappeared as soon as it escaped his body, he would have been drowning in it. And he was looking up at him, _laughing_.

Laughing as though he had finally lost his mind.

"Louis…" Lestat hiccupped, shaking his head as he struggled to sit up. "I didn't know you had it in you, _ma chere_."

Louis shook his head, his mind trying to deny the amusement in Lestat's voice. He was enjoying this. He was _enjoying this_.

"Oh, Daniel, I have to thank you," Lestat continued. "You made a sadist out of my Louis!"

"Shut up!" Louis screamed, rubbing his face. He wanted to die, he wanted to die so badly. He hadn't wanted to die this passionately since-

Since before the grief from the loss of Claudia had became numb.

"Oh, God," Louis groaned in horror. "Lestat, what did you _do_ to me? _What did you do_?"

"I did nothing! You were the one to bring the child to me, you were the one to turn him," Lestat scrambled to his feet, shoving his finger into Louis's chest aggressively. "Those were your choices, yours!"

Louis shook his head, denying Lestat's words, "You fed from him. You forced me to make that choice-"

"You did not allow him death," Lestat kept going, merciless. He never had any mercy. "You chose this life for him. You had a choice, and you chose this."

"Because I did not want him to die! I wanted him to live!"

"No, you wanted him!" Lestat screamed, eyes wide and mad. "You turned him because you wanted him! I see the way you watch him. You wish to devour him, don't you? You want to-"

Louis punched Lestat in the head. Again.

Lestat fell, laughing as he went down, and Louis collapsed on the ground in front of the blonde, heaving and gasping. He could feel his mind unravelling around him, forcing his sanity further and further into the depth of his consciousness, leaving him. He was becoming like Lestat, mad and without a centre-

"Louis."

 _Oh, Daniel,_ Louis opened his eyes and looked at the boy's amber eyes. _So beautiful, my Daniel. My sanity._

He could never let him go; he wasn't selfless enough.

"Daniel," For a second Louis almost apologized to the boy, but he had done so much of that in the past few days. It had little effect, when it came with no attempt to fix Daniel's existence.

He wanted to touch Daniel, he wanted to feel his body against his, feel his smirk against his lips as he kissed him, his cock growing hard against Louis's thigh. But he was covered in dirt and he was sure his eyes were still wild and nearly mad, and Daniel's were full of apprehension and concern. Daniel doubted he would be receptive to his touch at the moment.

Besides, he didn't want Daniel to get dirty. All he wanted was for Daniel to remain clean.

"I think," Lestat's smooth voice made Daniel stiffen, and he scrambled behind Louis, hunched down as if he could hide behind the other vampire. As if Louis could keep him safe. "That it's time we go home."

"Yes," Louis whispered, getting up an uncertain feet. He felt Daniel rise with him, his fingers hovering inches from Louis's shirt. It was as if he wanted to clutch Louis and hold on to him like a child, but held himself back. "Let's go."

"But before we do," Lestat raised a finger, sauntering towards the other two vampires. Louis took an automatic step backwards, and Daniel moved with him. "I want to know."

"What," Louis asked, exhausted, "Do you want to know?"

"Where the boy was going," Lestat hissed.

"Can you not just leave it, for tonight?" Louis begged. "Please. Just for tonight, let's go home."

Louis swallowed as Lestat's cold eyes ran over him, assessing. And then Lestat's chin went up and he nodded, softly.

"We need to find somewhere new to live," He said suddenly, voice as light as air. "I don't think I can handle your burned down estate for much longer, Louis. Somewhere new, perhaps New York. I'm sick of your New Orleans."

"If that's what you wish," Louis nodded, far too tired to even attempt to put up a fight. "We'll find a new place tomorrow night."

"That is what I wish," Lestat said softly, and gently caressed Louis's jaw with his knuckles. The touch sent sparks down Louis's spine, and he shivered, unable to stop himself.

Lestat smirked, noticing the reaction. And his smirk was full of satisfaction.

"And we must do as I wish, mustn't we, _ma cher_?"


	5. Chapter 5

"Get cleaned up," Lestat said sharply to Louis as they walked into the burned estate. "And clean the boy up."

Louis, stiffly, took hold of the boy's arm and led him away from Lestat. Lestat grinned to himself. That had been a rather fun night out. Though he was still angry at the boy for leaving- and was still expecting to hear where he'd tried to go- Louis's furious attack had made the whole night worthwhile.

But as for Daniel's whereabouts…Lestat walked over quietly to the door and placed his ear to it. He had a feeling that Louis would be curious as well.

"Here," Lestat heard Louis say softly, and then a splash of something wet hitting flesh. Louis seemed to be cleaning the boy from the dirt and grime of the city. Lestat could imagine him, gently and tenderly washing him with a wet cloth. "Stay still."

There a few moments of silence, and then Daniel said, voice shaking, "You're not a sadist."

"Huh?" Louis sounded a bit taken aback. Lestat could sympathize. It seemed like a non-sequitur.

"Lestat. He said I made you into a sadist. A sadist enjoys hurting other people. Lestat's a sadist. Not you."

"I…" Louis sighed heavily. "Thank you, Daniel."

"Sure."

Lestat rolled his eyes as Louis said, voice breaking, "You got hurt."

"Yeah," Now Daniel's voice was sharp and somewhat cold.

"I'm-"

"Louis, if you say you're sorry I swear to God I'm going to punch you in the dick."

Louis let out a broken laughter, and the sound of splashing water commenced. The next silence was nearly ten minutes long, ending when Louis said quietly, "You shouldn't have left, _ma chere_. That…that wasn't very smart."

"Yeah, I know, I know," Daniel replied. "I didn’t think he'd notice. I was just going to find a phonebooth."

"Good," Louis breathed out. "Good. But why didn't you just tell me-"

"I don't have to tell you everything-"

"But you do expect me to tell you everything."

"Hi, I'm the reporter. I'm not the subject. You were the one who decided to talk to me, remember?"

"Daniel, if you were trying to call your bosses-"

"I'm a freelancer, buddy."

" _Daniel._ Are you trying to publish a story about us?"

"What? No! I just wanted to call my fucking dad!"

Lestat grinned. How sweet. They were so busy with one another they seemed to have forgotten Lestat could hear them.

Or at least Daniel had forgotten.

"Daniel, hush," Louis said harshly. "Lestat-"

"Can hear you," Lestat sing-songed, loud enough to be sure the other two wouldn't miss him. "And is _very_ interested indeed."

All he heard after that was silence. Well, he didn't need a response from the boy at the moment. He could be patient.

*

"Yes," Lestat sighed, pleased, as he looked around the entrance hall to the mansion. It was brightly lit, with a huge chandelier hanging above it and flickering lights (soft enough to resemble candlelight) hanging from the walls. There was a large staircase leading up from the hall, which was covered in a white carpet. The staircase led to an indoor balcony, and Lestat could see quite a few doors up there. The real-estate agent (who was hovering in the background, watching Lestat look around with anxious eyes) had told him that the mansion hosted four bedrooms, three studies and a library on the top floor. "This will do."

"Ah…it's a bit-um, excessive?"

Lestat turned to look at Daniel, who had walked into the mansion after him. The boy was dressed in a pair of jeans, white shirt and blue vest, similar to the clothes he had worn nearly two weeks earlier when he'd been turned. Lestat had taken him and Louis shopping three days later, but they had to use Daniel's credit card, and since the boy wasn't the richest, Lestat couldn't get the tailored suited he'd wanted. Now, though, that they managed to get some money (Lestat hadn't told Louis how he got that money-sometimes it was safer not to tell Doom And Gloom Incarnated everything), Lestat needed to dress the boy better. He'd already gone out to get himself clothes, leaving his companion alone with their child. He'd returned to find Louis pinning the boy to the wall, kissing him and grinding against him.

They'd stopped as soon as he'd come in, unfortunately. It did make him realize, though, that it would probably not be wise to leave the two of them alone too often. There was no need to allow the two of them to grow closer than they already, _clearly_ , were.

"Excessive? Don't be ridiculous," Lestat scoffed, continuing his scan of the mansion. He walked left, past the staircase, to an enormous sitting room which hosted- he was pleased to see- a beautiful, marble-white grand piano. The room's colouring was golden and white, and it was tasteful though certainly rich-looking. "I think it's…perfect."

Daniel blinked as he came into the room, and rubbed the back of his neck, "Aha. Sure. Does this look like the place you lived in with Claudia?"

"We lived in a lot of places with Claudia," Lestat replied, smiling to himself. If he'd expected Daniel to stop asking quite so many questions, or perhaps to grow apprehensive around Lestat following the other night's confrontation, he'd been wrong. Daniel did not seem to change the way he interacted with Lestat at all. He had a rather remarkable ability to bounce back from anything and everything.

It really should not have surprised him, given the fact that the boy had been nearly killed by a vampire and his reaction was too rush to his car and proclaim, "Good stuff."

And so, after a single night where Daniel watched Lestat wearily, hanging to Louis's side, they were back to the questions and back to the curiosity.

Lestat was rather glad Daniel was back to his normal state. He enjoyed Daniel's questions, despite Louis's suspicion to the contrary. Perhaps it was because that when _Louis_ had asked him questions, it had been in order to learn more about vampires, about his new nature. Daniel, though- what Daniel found interesting was Lestat himself, and Louis. The fascinating things for Daniel were _people_.

It was good for Lestat's ego.

"All right, is it similar to where you lived when Claudia tried to kill you?" Daniel asked, walking past the sitting room to the dining hall beyond. "Holy shit, are those candlesticks made of _gold_?"

"Ah, very nice," Lestat smiled at the real-estate agent as she walked in after them, and she blushed deeply. Pretty little thing. He was going to have to feed from her after they bought the mansion.

"The previous owners went bankrupt, the bank took possession of most of their things," The woman said, clearing her throat. "All the furniture comes with the house. Shall we move on to the kitchen…?"

Daniel snorted.

"Daniel," Lestat clicked his tongue. "Don't be rude."

"Why, _do_ you want to see the kitchen?" Daniel raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, of course, now why wouldn’t I?" Lestat walked over to the boy and grabbed the back of his neck, whispering, "Why wouldn't I, I'm a simple human. And so are you."

"Yeah, yeah," Daniel snorted and pushed Lestat away slightly. "Simple humans. That's why we're going to live in a _castle_."

"This is not a castle," Lestat sighed, rather put off by his son's lack of taste. "This is a house. If you want a castle, I'll get you one."

Daniel just rolled his eyes.

"We’ll take the mansion, my dear," Lestat told the real-estate agent.

*

There. This was better. Lestat smirked as he leaned on the open door frame, looking into the bedroom. Louis was sitting on a sofa chair, a leather-bound book in his hands, reading quietly. This was familiar. Louis sitting somewhere, comfortable and calm enough (not happy or pleased- Louis very rarely was happy or pleased) that he did not jump up when he sensed Lestat's presence.

Lestat sighed deeply, and Louis's eyes flickered up for a moment before returning to his book.

"Where is Daniel?" Louis asked.

"The basement," Lestat replied. "Watching…a show about vampires."

Louis's eyebrow went up, though he didn't look at Lestat, "About vampires. He asked me about Dracula, you know? When we first met."

"Oh, _Dracula_ ," Lestat rolled his eyes. "Well, this one is about a blond girl who kills vampires."

Louis frowned, "What, a human?"

"I think…some sort of enhanced human?" Lestat shrugged. "It hadn't been entirely clear."

Louis hummed, clearly already losing interest. Lestat understood that. As far as he was concerned, Daniel could be biting his own toes off and he would be pleased. The important thing was that Daniel was far below, blasting the show in full volume, and Lestat was alone with Louis without any child to interfere.

"I've missed you," Lestat murmured, walking into the room and placing his hand on Louis's shoulder.

Louis stiffened, but didn't move.

"The world is rather dull without you, darling," Lestat said as he moved around the chair, fingers moving past Louis's shoulder to his neck as he did so, and coming to a stop on the white skin under his shirt. It was their first night in the new place, and Lestat hadn't had time to take them shopping yet. So Louis wasn't wearing the silk shirt and tailored suit that Lestat would have liked to see him in.

Louis swallowed, "Well. Is it interesting, now?"

"Oh, much more interesting," Lestat sighed, leaning forward to rest his chin on Louis's shoulder, his nose brushing Louis's cheek. "But I'm still missing something."

He waited to see if Louis will flinch away from him, but the other vampire just turned slightly, so they were eye to eye, the tips of their noses brushing against one another.

"Missing something, hmm?"

"Oh, yes," Lestat whispered, gently caressing Louis's soft skin. It still felt so good, so perfect for him. Louis was perfect for him.

Well. at least his body was.

"Louis…."

Louis swallowed, eyes closing, and slumped forward, face burrowing into Lestat's neck. Lestat grinned, triumphant, and was glad that Louis couldn't see his smirk. He brought his hand up to caress Louis's hair gently.

"That boy, he is beautiful, and he's so very alive," Lestat whispered into Louis's ear. "And you want him. Of course you do. I want him as well-"

Louis jerked, but Lestat tightened his hold on his hair, keeping him in place.

"But you also want me," He continued. "And I also want you."

"I don't…"

"You do, I know you do," Lestat hummed and tenderly moved Louis's head to face him, cupping his cheeks with his hands. And as his thumbs caressed Louis's cheek bones he added, "But if you don't…well, I know for certain that Daniel does."

 _Now_ Louis pushed himself away from Lestat, standing up and walking away from the chair. Lestat smirked up at him, pleased by the reaction, and waited.

"Daniel doesn’t-" Louis shook his head, seemingly unable to utter that clear falsehood. Instead he rubbed his eyes and said quietly, "I don't want you to touch the boy. He's good. You'll ruin him."

"Well, that's charming," Lestat drawled, placing his chin on his open palm. "Not that it matters, though, what you think. You say Daniel is an adult-well, let him make adult decisions."

"No," Louis snapped. "You will not touch him that way, I will not allow it."

"You will not?" Lestat replied, mockingly. "You'll stop him? Hold him down and keep him from me?"

"If you want-" Louis sounded as though he were chocking. "If you want-"

His words were choked off when Lestat gracefully stood and walked over to him, placing a hand on Louis's chest, "I want, Louis."

"And you'll leave Daniel alone?" Louis whispered as Lestat led him to the bed. He was reminded, suddenly, of when he'd come to Louis to turn him, and found him in bed. He'd walked him out of bed that night, gently and tenderly. They had been strangers then, had known nothing of one another. All Lestat had seen was potential. Now, though…now he knew what he'd be getting.

"I promise," Lestat lied as he unbuttoned Louis's shirt and pushed him down on the bed. He hovered over Louis for a moment, drinking his beautiful form in, and then straddled his thighs and leaned down.

"All right," Louis closed his eyes as Lestat leaned in and kissed him gently.

*

"There," Lestat purred, slipping Louis's now limp cock out of his mouth. "Was that so bad?"

Louis just looked up at him, eyes empty, and Lestat sighed.

"Why do you always look so…well, _dead_ , after we're done?" Lestat complained, rolling his eyes as he licked his lips and pulled away from Louis, zipping his pants up and straightening his shirt.

In response, Louis curled into himself and buried his face in his hands. Lestat rolled his eyes and slipped out of the room. He walked down the stairs, fingers trailing the handrail, and made his way to the kitchen, where he found Daniel…

Making a chocolate cake.

"What. Are you _doing_?" Lestat stomped into the kitchen, all of the good will he'd build up during the hours spent with Louis entirely disappearing. God above, if Daniel had started missing his humanity he was going to destroy something.

"Canoeing in the Nile," Daniel said dryly, and then looked above the bowl to grin mischievously. And despite the fact that he had just come, Lestat felt his cock twitch in response. Daniel was such a charming boy. "I'm making a cake. What do you think?"

"And why, prey tell," Lestat jumped on top of the counter next to Daniel, and placed his hand on the boy's neck. "Are you making a cake? To eat?"

"To smell," Daniel said promptly. It sounded as if he'd thought about that answer before. Lestat narrowed his eyes as he watched the child, the way the soft yellow light hit his raven hair, which somehow made him look younger than he normally did. Though, Lestat mused, he did not look so young. It was only Lestat and Louis that saw him as a child. The humans around him would not see him as such.

But the day Lestat cared about how humans saw his companions would be the day he knew he'd turned into Louis.

"To smell," Lestat said flatly.

"I like the smell of chocolate cake," Daniel said again, his voice rather nonchalant. His hands, though, were slightly shaking as they carefully moved the batter from the bowl to a pan. "Especially when it cooks. It's a great-"

His voice was choked off when Lestat grabbed Daniel's neck, hard.

"Why do you like the smell of chocolate cake, Daniel?" He purred, licking his lips quickly, and shook Daniel hard. A strand of the child's hair fell across his forehead, and Lestat pinched it with his two fingers, gently placing it back in place. He kept a tight hold on Daniel's throat, and used it to pull him closer. "Tell me, my darling."

Daniel shivered as Lestat let go of his throat, but stayed in place, allowing Lestat to play further with his hair, "Why do you want to know?"

"It's not about want, Daniel," Lestat said softly, brushing Daniel's ear. "You're my son, I need to know everything about you. And you want to know everything about me. I think it's only fair."

"Yeah, but you don't tell me shit," Daniel raised an eyebrow. "So why should I tell you _anything_?"

Lestat frowned, and then grinned, suddenly pleased.

"Oh, you clever, clever boy," Lestat purred, and grabbed Daniel's shirt, pulling him in. "Tell me why you enjoy the smell of a human fucking meal and I'll tell you…something. One question."

"One question?" Daniel asked, and Lestat saw Louis from the corner of his eyes, rushing into the kitchen and freezing at the entrance, eyes widening when he saw Lestat and Daniel. "And you'll answer?"

"A yes or no question," There was no reason to give Daniel too much power.

"Lestat, what are you-"

Lestat hushed Louis with a single raised finger.

"Let us finish here, Louis, _mon cheri_ ," Lestat said, keeping his eyes trained on Daniel. "You first, sweet boy."

"Did you kill your maker?"

Lestat froze.

Was someone screaming? He could hear screaming, he swore, but looking at Daniel he could tell that the boy couldn't hear anything odd. He was looking at Lestat, fascinated and intense-

The screaming must have been coming from inside Lestat's mind.

He could feel Louis's eyes on him, watching in fear. But he could not bring himself to look away from their son. Louis had never asked him that- he'd asked about Lestat's creator, of course. But he'd never asked if Lestat had _killed him_.

Lestat swallowed, waiting for Daniel to demand an answer. But the boy kept looking at him with amber eyes, silent and waiting. It seemed to Lestat that he would wait until the sun came up and burned them to ashes.

"No," Lestat said, rather shocked by how much he sounded as though he was about to cry. "No."

"Ok," Daniel nodded, and his eyes were widening, filling with excitement. "So what-"

"One question, Daniel," Lestat grabbed his throat again, squeezing. "We said one question-"

"Lestat, don't," Louis took a step forward. "Don't hurt him."

"I'm not hurting him!" Lestat bellowed, pulling Daniel in so he was trapped between his legs, their chests flushed together. "Am I hurting you, _petit chaton_?"

Daniel shook his head immediately.

"There," Lestat gently turned Daniel, resting his back against Lestat's chest, and placed his open palm on Daniel's chest. "See? The two of us are quite all right."

Louis swallowed, taking another careful step forward as Lestat grabbed Daniel's chin, moving his face so they were looking at each other.

"And now, you tell me," Lestat purred.

Daniel nodded, "Yeah. Fair's fair. Though…it's not a very interesting story at all."

Lestat shrugged. He didn't care very much for the answer at the moment. He just needed his authority over the boy made clear.

"Well," Daniel started fiddling with his fingers. "My mom used to make those cakes. And…I used to help her. That's it. I told you, it's not interesting."

Oh, but that was very interesting indeed for Lestat, who looked up and grinned at Louis, "Daniel, darling, you told Louis that you wanted to call your human father, yes? Why not your mother?"

"I told you," Daniel snapped, trying to move away from Lestat's hold. "You asked why I want to make the cake, and I told you. Now let me go-"

"I want to know why you didn't want to call your _mama_ ," Lestat hissed as Louis rushed forward. "Do you hate her? Was she mean, Daniel? Did she hit you-"

"Leave him alone, can't you see he doesn't want to answer?" Louis yelled.

"Or perhaps she's dead? Did she die, _cheri_? Is she dead-"

"No!"

"Ohh, I know," Lestat grinned, kissing Daniel's ear. "Did she, perhaps, slip into your bed at night when _papa_ was sleeping and-"

"No she left!"

Lestat grew still, and his hands grew limp as Daniel escaped from his arms. Louis moved to hold him, but Daniel shoved him off, as well, glaring, and turned back to Lestat.

"My mother didn't hit me," Daniel hissed. "And she wasn't a fucking pedophile, you absolute fucking creep. She just left us, all right? She disappeared when I was ten and she left a note-"

Daniel's voice broke, but as Louis made a move as though he wanted to hug him, Daniel raised a hand to stop him.

"She disappeared and when I came home from school one day I found a note for my dad."

"Did you read it?" Lestat asked, curious.

Daniel shook his head, but then answered.

"Yeah. I read it."

"And what did she say, Daniel?" This time it was Louis who asked, voice soft and gentle. "Will you tell us?"

Daniel looked at Louis, as though the kind tones were lolling him in, and said quietly, "She said…she said that she loved-that she loved me. But she met someone new who was going to give her a new life. And that was it. She didn’t even say she was sorry."

"I'm sorry, Daniel," Louis said softly, and this time, when he walked over to gather Daniel into his arms, the boy let him, collapsing against him.

"It's ok," Daniel mumbled against Louis's neck. "It was a long time ago."

"Things that happen a long time ago can still hurt," Louis said, and there was a far-away look in his eyes that told Lestat that he was thinking about Claudia. And then he shook himself and looked back down at Daniel, "Let's put the batter in the oven."

And Daniel burst out laughing.


	6. Chapter 6

Later that night, Louis sat with Daniel in the kitchen, looking at the baked cake. They were alone in the mansion, Lestat having gone to get himself and Daniel another suit (he'd taken Daniel to a tailor to get his measurements so he could pick things out for him without Daniel there. That one time Daniel had been taken to the tailor's hadn't gone well. Lestat and he had not seen eye to eye about a single piece of cloth, a single item of clothing), so Louis was feeling a bit calmer than he had before.

Being alone with Daniel did that for him.

Daniel was leaning over the cake, breathing in the fumes. His eyes were closed very tightly, as if he were trying to force his mind to escape to somewhere far away. Louis kept his mouth shut and movements slow, not wanting to distract the boy and bring him back to his reality.

Daniel only opened his eyes when the cake had grown cold and the smell had entirely disapporated. He looked at Louis with deep sadness in his eyes, and said softly, "It's such a fucking waste, to not even eat the cake."

Louis smiled gently, "Did it help you?"

Daniel shrugged, "I don't think it does, really."

Louis frowned, "Why do you do it, then?"

"Why do you talk about Claudia?" Daniel asked. "Why do you think about her, or your wife? It doesn’t make you feel better."

Louis looked at the boy, and was forced to shake his head, "No. It does not."

"But you don't stop," Daniel nodded.

"No, I don’t," Louis sighed. "Because if I did, they'd be gone. Truly gone."

The child placed his fingers on top of the cake and scooped out a bit of it before dropping it down again, "I don't know if my mother's gone. Dead, I mean. She was twenty-four when I was born, she'd only be forty-nine now. She might have a new family, maybe other kids. My dad remarried. He got a divorce, you know."

"You have a step-mother," Louis commented. "Are the fairytales true?"

"Nah, she's great," Daniel smiled, looking sad, though. "I hated her when Dad first brought her home, though."

"I'm sure."

"But when the twins were born, I guess I couldn't hate her anymore," Daniel said, taking another handful of cake and squishing it in his hands. He looked up at Louis and said quietly, "I can't see them, can I? They'd realize there was something different."

"No, I don't think you can," Louis admitted.

Daniel bit his lip, and Louis watched his fang cut the skin, causing a single red drop to trickle for half a millimeter before disappearing.

"I can call them, though, I should," Daniel rubbed his eyes. "They're used to not hearing from me. I'm not the best at keeping in touch. But-but I want to call them."

"They might ask when you're planning on visiting," Louis said gently. He wondered, to himself, if he was being unkind. But Daniel could never see his family again. It would be best to simply severe their ties. "It might be better-"

"What, to let my dad think that I left him, like my mom? Or maybe that I died-"

"You have died, _cheri_."

"Yeah, but I came back," Daniel said stubbornly. "So. I'm not dead."

"Daniel-"

"It's fine," Daniel pushed himself up from the counter. "I get it. I won't talk to them."

And then he left.

It took Louis longer then it should have to realize that Daniel had left the _mansion_.

Louis jumped up and rushed out of the kitchen, smashing through the glass of the living room window, Daniel had left, where was he, where had he gone. Oh God, oh God, not again he couldn't lose the boy, he couldn't, he wouldn't-

"What are you doing?" Lestat hissed, grabbing Louis as the glass came flying around them. Louis gasped, being forced away from the broken window.

Louis blinked, "You're back?"

"Shut up," Lestat hissed. "And come with me. We're going after the boy."

"What-"

"I saw him leave when I came back, so hush and come with me."

Louis swallowed. If Daniel was going to his family, allowing Lestat to follow would be a horrific, terrible idea. But if they didn't follow him, would Daniel return? Come back to Louis?

He wasn't sure.

"Show me where he went," Louis whispered.

*

Daniel took a bus to a hotel in a seedier neighborhood then the one they lived in now. Lestat and Louis watched the boy in his hotel room from the shadows as he fed from a drugged up girl he'd brought up with him and dropped her on the floor before closing the drapes, to protect from the upcoming sunlight.

Louis and Lestat went into the apartment building in front of the hotel, and settled down in one of the apartments (it was housed by an elderly woman that Lestat causally kicked to death-Louis had to look away. Sometimes he forgot how cruel Lestat was), closing the drapes to keep safe from the sun.

Then Lestat sat down on the broken-down sofa and pulled Louis down next to him, whispering, "And now we wait for night."

Louis turned away, trying to think if there was some way he could slip away from Lestat and follow Daniel on his own. But no, that would not work. But maybe…maybe Louis could warn Daniel about Lestat's presence-

Though he doubted Lestat would take that well. He might attack Louis. No, he would attack Daniel. And hurt him. Louis would rather risk pain to Daniel's family, even if it could not heal, then pain to Daniel that would pass in seconds.

So, he stayed.

*

The window showed a bedroom, stylized to suit a child's needs. There were two beds in it, both currently inhabited by sleeping figures. A boy and a girl, both with raven hair and soft faces, that could not have been older than ten. Louis looked down at Daniel, sitting on the ground in front of the suburban house, back leaning against a lamplight, and noted the similarity between his son and the two children above them.

 _Twins,_ Daniel had said. His stepmother had given birth to twins.

Lestat was grinning cruelly, enjoying the new power he had just been handed, and crouched down elegantly behind Daniel. The boy turned slightly to look at Louis, eyes begging. But there was nothing Louis could do- the damage had already been done.

"And who…are these?" Lestat purred into Daniel's ear. Louis wanted to shove him off the boy, but stopped himself. If he started fighting Lestat here, would the other vampire try to kill Daniel's family in response, and he was sure Daniel would never forgive him if he was the cause of his family's pain. He couldn't risk it.

Daniel bit his lip and shook his head, refusing to answer.

"They look as beautiful as you," Lestat added. "Maybe we should add them to our growing family, hmm?"

"No!" Daniel snapped, shoving Lestat away slightly and glaring at him. "If you touch them-"

"Are they your siblings, Daniel?" Lestat asked, and Daniel hesitated, before nodding.

"Yeah, yeah they are," Daniel mumbled and looked at Louis pleadingly. "I just wanted to make sure they were ok. I haven't seen them in a few months, ok?"

Louis wondered for a moment what was worse- losing your loved ones before the turn or turning and knowing that your family would live on without you, and you'd have to find them dead of old age or disease one day.

"And you decided to leave without telling either of us where you were going because….?"

"Because I don’t owe you any fucking explanation to where the fuck I'm going and what the fuck I'm doing," Daniel jumped up and opened his mouth slightly, exposing his fangs.

"Oh? Is that what you think?" Lestat stood up as well, stalking after the boy while Louis stalked after him, ready to pounce should he try to attack Daniel. "You think you owe us nothing, that your existence belongs to yourself? You do not. You belong to Louis, and you belong to me."

"I don’t-"

"Yes, you do, you have from the moment you talked to Louis, and you have tethered yourself to us more firmly than ever now. If you ever leave again without my permission, I will return to your former family's home and feed from them. Yes?"

"I won't let you touch them," Daniel hissed. "And my siblings aren’t my fucking _former family_! They're my family!"

"If you say so," Lestat drawled, amused. "Though, if that's true, I really should just kill them. I don't need competition-"

"No, don't!" Louis yelled at the same time Daniel did, and Louis grabbed Lestat's shirt, ripping it slightly as he went along.

Lestat smirked at their reaction. He untangled himself from Louis's hold and said quietly, "What do you think, Daniel?"

"I-" Daniel looked at Louis, eyes silently pleading for him to interfere. And Louis wanted to, wanted to pick him up, carry him away and keep him safe. But he couldn't move, caught in place by Lestat's eyes on him. He couldn't fight him, he simply could not. Fighting with Lestat never worked, never once brought the outcome Louis had hoped. He'd fought him when Daniel left for the first time, and Lestat had only found it amusing.

And if he hadn't fought Lestat, if he had never helped Claudia with her attempt to kill Lestat, then Armand's troops would have had no excuse to kill her. She would still be alive. Perhaps she would have been unhappy, trapped as he was with Lestat. Perhaps she would have hated Louis bitterly, perhaps she would have tried to leave.

But she would have been alive. That was the fate he was angling for Daniel, now.

"Daniel," Louis whispered, pleading with the boy. "Tell him what he wants to hear."

"I-I-" Daniel closed his eyes, head hitting the street lamp behind him, and when he opened them again, they were full of deep desperation. "They're not my family anymore. You are."

"Good boy," Lestat kissed Daniel's forehead, and Louis saw the boy cringe.

He stayed in place, though. Nothing would be gained by antagonizing Lestat anymore. They were together, now.

Trapped forever by one another's side.

*

"An opera," Daniel said flatly, tugging at his tie. "You want to go to an opera."

"Yes," Louis said sharply, slapping Daniel's hand away from the grey fabric. "Stop touching it."

"You know that people don't _actually_ go to the opera anymore, right?" Daniel snorted, ducking his head to get away from Louis's touch. He was dressed in one of the tailored suits that Lestat had had made for him. This one was royal blue, and Louis had pared it with a pearl white shirt and pale grey tie, and the whole getup made him look rather divine. "People go to the movies, or like- clubbing. I should take you clubbing-"

"Another time," Louis promised, rather hoping he wouldn't have to hold himself to that promise. He'd followed Daniel a few times when he'd gone out (been allowed out- Daniel didn't go anywhere without Lestat's seal of approval now, not willing to risk the safety of his loved ones) and seen the kinds of places Daniel enjoyed going to. Daniel hadn't realized that Louis was following him, and Louis wondered if he'd had let less men and women blow him or had fucked less of them in the dark back rooms of the clubs if he knew that Louis was watching. Most of those one-night partners hadn't made it alive to see the morning. Louis needed to feed, anyways, so why not on them? "But tonight we have tickets to an opera. It's run in New York is only a few weeks, we won't get many chances to see it."

"Is Lestat coming with us?" Daniel asked, quietly, allowing Louis to once more fix his tie. Louis hesitated, releasing the tie to run his hands up and down the front of Daniel's suit, smoothing away the lines while providing a small comfort for the boy. Not that he needed it, for the most part Daniel did not seem as wary of Lestat as Louis would have wanted him to be. Still, there were moments…moments when Daniel watched the blonde vampire with narrowed eyes, as though he were a gazelle suddenly aware of the lion prowling behind it. But then Daniel would turn, smile, say something, and the moment would pass. The change was so quick Louis often doubted whether he had truly seen it or not.

"Not tonight. He's…going to the club tonight," Louis shuttered. He really should not have been surprised that of all the things in the modern world, S&M clubs were what Lestat had found the most attractive. Still, it was rather disturbing, imagining all the things he did too willing human victims in those places. It was better than doing those things to _un_ willing humans, but still… "It will just be the two of us."

"All right," Daniel nodded, but then his eyes widened. "What opera are we going to see? Is it older than you? Is it older than _Lestat_?"

"Older than me," Louis replied, inwardly rolling his eyes. "It's a Mozart opera, the _Magic Flute_. I wouldn't know about Lestat."

"I should ask him."

"He wouldn't tell you," Louis felt as though he'd had this conversation a thousand times before. Most likely because he had. "Stop trying to trick him into revealing information. I'd have thought you'd have learned your lesson by now."

Daniel stiffened, and Louis could see the boy's mind had gone straight to where Louis had wanted it to go. A few days earlier, after being pestered for hours by the boy, Lestat had finally lost his patience and lashed out, pining the boy to the floor. And before Louis could stop him, he'd slashed Daniel's belly open. Louis had tackled Lestat, but it had been too late by then. Daniel had lay on the floor, his body healing. But as he healed, Daniel had been in excruciating pain.

He hadn't stopped asking questions, since then. That would have been too much to hope for. But he did become more cautious, stopping himself from asking too many questions, only approaching Lestat when the older vampire was in a good mode.

He still didn't get any real answers, but that didn't seem to worry him too much. Hope that he would get the responses he wanted was still burning hot.

Louis wasn't entirely sure what to think about that. He was glad, of course, that monotony did not seem to be setting in for Daniel (though it _had_ only been a month), but Daniel's refusal to give up on Lestat's story meant that were Louis to try and take Daniel away from the blond vampire, he would have to fight not only Lestat, but Daniel's reluctance as well. There was no doubt in Louis's mind that Daniel feared Lestat, but he was also absolutely fascinated by the other vampire.

"I'm not trying to trick him," Daniel said quietly. "I'm asking him."

"And what, pray tell, do you plan to do with his answers if he ever gives them?" Louis demanded.

Daniel smirked in response and pulled Louis in, kissing him harshly on the mouth, "Assume that he lied about everything and ask him again."


End file.
